It will be a challenge, but also an opportunity, with the shift making more than 200,000 openings available to women.

Master Sgt. Lavone Anderson is among those women. She joined the Army because it gave her options, and now, 23 years later, as a recruiter, Anderson sees new opportunities, especially for young women.

"If a female can do the same thing that a man can do, then they should be afforded the opportunity," said Anderson, who is stationed at Fort George G. Meade.

The Army will soon open up new opportunities to women in infantry, armor and Special Forces, jobs that used to be only for men.

"Woman constitute 50 percent of the population, so this gives us the opportunity to really get women who may have thought opportunities were not available to them," Commanding Gen. Jeffrey Snow, a recruiter a Fort Meade, said. "So really the sky is the limit."

Soon the Army will implement its plan to slowly integrate women into all military occupational specialties. They say this won't lower the standards of the Army, a criticism they've heard before.

"It takes gender out of the equation," Snow said.

The Army says that beginning April 1, women will be allowed begin training for integration into the infantry and armor combat arms of military occupational specialties. Training for special forces will come later.

Anderson said she looking forward to seeing women having the opportunities.

"It's time," Anderson said. "There's so much disparity in the Army as far as females still that this is an opportunity that should have been done 10 years ago, 15 years ago."